Viva World Cup:
The VIVA World Cup is an international football tournament organized by the New Federation Board, an umbrella association for nations unaffiliated with FIFA, planned to be held every two years.
[edit] History
[edit] Inauguration
In April 2005, the NF-Board announced that Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus had been chosen to host the inaugural VIVA World Cup, having successfully hosted a tournament to celebrate 50 years of the KTFF, called KTFF 50th Anniversary Cup, featuring fellow NF-Board member Sápmi and FIFA-unaffiliated Kosovo. The NF-Board hoped that sixteen teams would take part, drawn from across its membership.
[edit] Controversy
In the Spring of 2005, a new government was elected in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, keen to foster relations with other nations. The NF-Board claim that the government of Ferdi Sabit Soyer insisted on restricting which nations could and could not take part in order to head off potential political arguments. For their part, the KTFF claim that the NF-Board made unreasonable financial demands.[1]
The upshot of this was that the NF-Board decided to grant the hosting rights for the tournament to Occitania. In response, the KTFF announced that they would hold their own tournament, the ELF Cup, scheduled for the same time as the VIVA World Cup. Some NF-Board members have accepted invitations to take part in the ELF Cup.
[edit] Occitania 2006
Occitania announced that the tournament would still be held between the 19th and the 25th of November 2006, with games played at the in and around Hyères les Palmiers, near Toulon. The number of entrants was downsized to eight, in anticipation of the ELF Cup - which agreed to pay expenses - drawing NF-Board members away from the VIVA World Cup. However, a lack of suitable competitors meant that the tournament was to include six teams: Monaco, the Romani, the Sápmi, Southern Cameroons, West Papua, and the hosts.
However, the failure of West Papua and Southern Cameroon to attend the NF-Board General Assembly in September 2006, and logistical problems facing the Roma"[2], threw new doubt on the tournament, which looked as though it may go ahead with just three teams. Fortunately, Southern Cameroons were able to agree to send a team, and four teams - twelve fewer than initially hoped for - were set to contest the title.
There were yet more problems for the organisers when Southern Cameroons were unable to take part because of visa problems, resulting in walkovers in all their games.
By the end of the week, Sápmi had triumphed, scoring 42 goals in their three games, and lifting the first VIVA World Cup trophy.
[edit] Sápmi 2008
The second VIVA World Cup were played in the Swedish town of Gällivare in Sápmi from 7 to 13 July, 2008. The matches were played under the midnight sun. Twelve teams had shown an interest in participating in the men's tournament, while two had shown an interest in the women's tournament.[citation needed] However five teams took part the tournament and Padania emerged as winners beating the Assyrians team 2-0. The host, Sápmi, finished in third place. The women's tournament, with only two teams, was won by the host, Sapmi ahead of Kurdistan.
[edit] VIVA World Cup TM 2010
The VIVA World Cup™’s next editions and the official presentation of the 3 FA candidates wanting to host the VIVA World Cup 2010™ : Padania FA, Kurdistan FA and Gozo FA.
[edit] Tournament results
[edit] Trophy
An artist's impression of the Nelson Mandela Trophy.
The VIVA World Cup Trophy was designed by French sculptor Gérard Pigault, and will be named The Nelson Mandela Trophy, in honour of the former South African president.[3]
[edit] Topscorers
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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